Faith, Blizzards, and a Roadside Mass

(photo: Photo: Facebook)

A few weeks ago, hundreds of people were stranded on the Pennsylvania Turnpike as more than two feet of snow buried the Mid-Atlantic region. Eighty-six miles of road were shut down, and more than 500 cars, buses, etc. were stranded for about a day.

In and amongst the coverage of this storm was a story that led even mainstream media storylines: Catholic college students from returning from the 2016 March for Life tag-teamed to hold a roadside Mass on a snow altar.

This story of faith under duress wasn't just noticed by Catholic and politically conservative outlets. ABC, CNN, and USA TODAY covered it, as did many state-based outlets in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, and The New York Times' coverage of the stranded drivers led with the young pro-life advocates. One group of pro-life students took 45 hours to return from Washington, yet stories abounded from those stranded on the highway and in D.C. of improved relations with both God and our fellow man.

As a Catholic pro-lifer and a media professional, all of the above caught and held my attention. But what really struck me was just how much coverage a simple act of faith -- a roadside Mass on a snow altar, with a bottle of water -- drew so much coverage to the March for Life, which many mainstream media outlets had largely ignored or downplayed just days earlier.

As the public relations officer for LifeSiteNews, I spent much of the week leading up to the March pushing hard for media coverage of our work. And we got plenty of exposure with leading organizations -- including my colleague Lisa Bourne's interview with EWTN's Teresa Tomeo -- but none of the mainstream coverage I've worked so hard to cultivate over the last 12 months.

Frankly, the headaches and stress weren't worth it. I'm proud of what we did with EWTN, FRC, The Federalist, Hot Air, and elsewhere that week, I really hoped to land LifeSiteNews, the pro-life message, and Catholicism in front of millions of Americans who don't already recognize the truth about the unborn.

At 30, I might be too young to be so cynical, but I'm sure anyone can understand how frustrating it is to work so hard to get truth into the mainstream media cycle that is so important to changing hearts and minds -- only to have that truth roundly ignored. It's the e-mail and phone version of the proverbial banging one's head against the brick wall.

Yet for all of our work and that of scores of organizations that attended or organized the March and its surrounding events, I think the roadside Mass has gotten the March for Life more mentions in local and national non-conservative media than the event itself. And all it took was a child-like act of faith without a single bit of concern for strategy, tactics, or public perception.

Was this God's plan, to sneak the March into coverage of the snowstorm, through no preconceived strategies, just a simple act of faith? Rather than aggressively pushing our principles in front of people who might reject them out of hand, perhaps His plan was to approach things in a way that's a bit more subtle and appears less threatening?

I have no idea. But I do know that as we begin Lent, it's a great time for me to reconsider how I approach my job and my mission -- whether I am accidentally confusing the means of God (media connections, coverage, etc.) for the end goal, and putting tools ahead of the greatest tool of all: His Will.

The opinions expressed here are solely that of the author, and do not represent any of the organizations mentioned.